ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Members of the grass-roots organization Juntos: Our Air, Our Water held a rally Thursday to demand that New Mexico’s $18 million portion from the Volkswagen Mitigation Trust Fund be used exclusively to buy electric school buses and to retrofit existing buses to meet zero emissions standards.

The money came from a $15 billion settlement the vehicle manufacturer had to pay consumers and to states after it was learned that nearly half a million Volkswagens and Audis with diesel engines were programmed to cheat on emissions tests.

About 25 people from Juntos, a program of Conservation Voters New Mexico Education Fund, gathered at Tingley Field Park east of the ABQ BioPark Zoo to protest the lack of a formal public comment process for determining the use of the settlement money.